3.X Zombies: How Can They Be More Of a Threat?

[Scribble]

If you're trying to pull off the swarming aspect without using the mob template, just give zombies something like an untyped +1 to hit, damage and grapple checks for every additional zombie threatening the target. That can get very ugly very fast for people who are surrounded.

That's my thoughts exactly... Here's a Zombie build which uses powers created by Mike Mearls for the Iron Heroes Bestiary... (I changed them from feats to powers...)

Throw a whole bunch of these guys at the party... enough to surround them in several layers of zombie goodness... Let the zombies surround, then initiate a grapple with a couple while others simply attack.

[b]Zombie[/b] (Human Commoner)	                 [b]CR: ?[/b]
Neutral Evil, Medium Undead 
[B]Init:[/B] -1    [B]Senses:[/B] Dark Vision 60’ 
[B]Languages:[/B] None
------------------------------------------------------
[B]AC:[/B] 11 , [i]Touch[/i] 9 , [i]Flat-Footed[/i] 11;
[b]Miss Chance: 
HP:[/b] 16  (2d12HD + 3) [b]DR:[/b] 5 / Slashing
[b]Immune:[/b] All mind-affecting effects, poison, sleep 
effects, paralysis, stunning, disease, and death effects. 
Damage to its physical ability scores (Strength, Dexterity, 
and Constitution), as well as to fatigue and exhaustion 
effects. Not subject to Critical hits, non lethal damage, 
ability or energy drain. 
[b]Resist:[/b]
[b]Fort:[/b]  +0 [b]Ref:[/b]  -1 [b]Will:[/b]  +3
------------------------------------------------------
[b]Speed:[/b] 6 squares (Can’t Run)
[b]Melee:[/b] Slam +2 (1d6+1)
[b]Melee:[/b] Bite +2 (1d6+1)
[b]Space:[/b]  5  [b]Reach:[/b] 5
[b]Base Atk:[/b] +1  [b]Grp:[/b] +6
[b]Atk Options:[/b]  Sneak Attack (+1d6) 
[b]Special Actions:[/b]
------------------------------------------------------- 
[b]Abilities:[/b] Str 12, Dex 8, Con 0, Int 0, Wis 10, Cha 1
[b]SQ:[/b]  Single Actions Only, Undead Traits
[b]Feats:[/b] Toughness, Improved Grapple
[b]Skills:[/b]
[b]Advancement:[/b] 
-------------------------------------------------------

[b]Continuous Assault (Ex):[/b] When one zombie falls, as 
a swift action, any other zombie occupying an adjacent 
square can move into the fallen zombie’s place. This does 
not provoke an attack of Opportunity.

[b]Overwhelming Assault (Ex):[/b] The zombie gains a +1 
bonus to hit for every ally zombie that threatens its target.

[b]Strength in Numbers (Ex):[/b] +1 Dodge Bonus for every 
ally zombie threatening its attacker.

If you're really mean, and want to do the whole movie effect:

[b]Bite of The Zombie(Su):[/b]Any humanoid or giant hit by a 
zombie's bite attack must succeed on a DC 15 Fortitude 
save or become a zombie within 1d4 hours.

 

[Lopke_Quasath]

I have used the Corpsecrafter feat chain from Libris Mortis to make zombies and skeletons dangerous and feared.

In particular my favorites are: Destruction Retribution (causes negative energy damage, half on a successful reflex save. guaranteed to damage that Cleaving fighter), and Deadly Chill (+1D6 cold damage with natural weapons).

Those two feats, combined with the stat bonus and and extra HP from Corpsecrafter, made lowly undead scary for my players. Even at 8th level, without the proper protection spells, lowly skeletons and zombies were causing havoc.

I will yoink many of the other ideas from this thread, though. Improved Grapple for zombies is good stuff, along with the bite and immunity to non-magical weapons except for crits.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Those two feats, combined with the stat bonus and and extra HP from Corpsecrafter, made lowly undead scary for my players. Even at 8th level, without the proper protection spells, lowly skeletons and zombies were causing havoc.

If you are goingthat route, you might want to check out my Improved Corpsecrafting feat.

 

[Rechan]

Those two feats, combined with the stat bonus and and extra HP from Corpsecrafter, made lowly undead scary for my players. Even at 8th level, without the proper protection spells, lowly skeletons and zombies were causing havoc.

One trick I pulled once was having a necro cast "Fire Trap" on the mouths of skeletons, and just leave them waiting around. When he needed them, he'd yank them out, say "Charge, then open mouth."

Smart bombs. Annoyed the hell out of the PCs.

 

[Hawken]

OP: White Wolf put out a Ravenloft supplement, Van Richten's Guide to the Walking Dead or something like that. IT had a lot of options in there for beefing up undead, and each of the "upgrades" also listed the amount you should adjust the CR of the undead.

If you're looking to beef up your zombies, its definitely worth looking into.

 

[hamishspence]

draconomicon dragon Zombies (and skeletal dragons)

These zombies use the base hit dice of the monster, no doubling. No HD limit in the template.

And they retain things like Frightful Presence, Spell Resistance, Breath Weapon (half strength)

And with Desecrate spell+ altar, you can have 4 times your hit dice created at once. a CR7 20HD Green Dragon Zombie at 5th level, a CR34 78 HD Prismatic Dragon Zombie at 20th level.

Technically, you can use Polymorph Any Object to turn one dragon body into a much more dangerous when animated dead body.

all this using the Animate Dead spell, as the template says in Draconomicon.

Yowza!!

-- cheese, much?! Hamish's brother--

 

[pallandrome]

Personally, I use a couple of special rules when I run my regular zombie games (one of which has been recently adapted from the excellent "World War Z")

1. Zombies lose their slam attack, but get a bite attack.
2. Zombies always try to grapple, then bite, if they have their hands free.
3. Only attacks specifically targeting the head, or AoEs, do damage to the zombies.
4. All zombies only have the 1 HD.
5. Zombies all have the Walking Plague. Once bitten, the victim must roll a fortitude save once an hour. If the victim fails a save, they turn into a zombie. If the victim dies while suffering from the Walking Plague, they turn into a zombie. If the victim does not have the disease magically cured in under his Con in hours, they turn into a zombie. DC of the save = 10+total of all zombie bite damage delt.
6. All zombies have the Zombie Moan ability. When a zombie sees a target, they Moan as a free action. This moan can be heard by other zombies up to 10k away. If a zombie hears the Moan, they Moan as well, and progress towards the original zombie. Ad Nauseum.

I threw these bad boys at a group of lvl10 players. It made for a great survival horror experience, even if the zombies ended up killing pretty much everyone in the prime material plane. The Zombie infestation went on too long, and ended up infecting several million people. There were just too many to turn, even for an army of clerics. (They ended up killing a whole mess of the little fellas though. I gave them an orb of vengeance, to be nice.)

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Reported spam.

 

[Runestar]

When you say that zombies are weak, do you bemoan the apparent lack of high-cr zombies, or that they are too weak for their cr? I thought that at lower lvs, they remain fairly challenging foes since they have a lot of HD for their cr (which consequently gives them a fair amount of hp, decent saves and bab). Use them in enclosed areas to make up for their lack of mobility.

These zombies use the base hit dice of the monster, no doubling. No HD limit in the template.

And they retain things like Frightful Presence, Spell Resistance, Breath Weapon (half strength)

Not only that, these dragon skeletons/zombies are also strictly better than those presented in the MM. For instance, a red dragon skeleton would be cr8 by the MM, but using draconomicon guidelines, cr6 and statistically superior in every aspect.